The Scottish Borders has confirmed that its council tax will rise by 10 per cent. The local authority met on Thursday morning to discuss next year’s budget and vote on the rise.
The move will see payments for a band D property rise from £1,356 to £1,491. The local authority said it would generate an additional £7 million.
The Tory-led administration went against John Swinney’s plea for councils to limit their increases. The FM had previously said that 10 per cent was too high.
The big increase comes after Humza Yousaf’s Government made councils freeze their rates last year. The SNP has regularly had a policy of freezing council tax – a decision which councils say has left local services on their knees.
The SNP Government recently pledged to reform the levy – a whole 18 years after pledging to scrap it altogether.
The Scottish Borders council tax hike comes on a bumper day for local authorities setting their rates for next year.
Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, Fife and Edinburgh councils are all meeting on Thursday to discuss their budgets for 2025-26 and to finalise their council tax plans. Fife confirmed its rise of 8.2 per cent on Thursday afternoon.
It comes after East Lothian became the first Scottish council to vote for an inflation-busting 10 per cent hike on Tuesday. The Labour-led council said the rise was needed to maintain public services.
The Scottish Government had recently lifted a freeze on the levy, but Swinney warned against big increases.
The First Minister said in a recent interview that his Government’s budget is positive for councils and means big rises are not needed.
Asked if 10 per cent is too high, he said: “I think it is, yes.” He added: “I don’t think that’s necessary, to be honest.”
Then first minister Humza Yousaf hastily announced a council tax freeze at the SNP’s conference in 2023. Swinney confirmed it had been lifted at the recent budget.
In a recent interview, Swinney has talked up his funding deal for councils: “I think if you had a quiet conversation with council leaders where they were not being bound by certain things, they would say to you, ‘We got a better settlement than we thought we were going to get’.
“I think that’s the case. That’s what they say to me as well in private moments – possibly, they might think these were reckless conversations to have with me, but they’ve had them. And I think as a consequence, that means council tax increases don’t need to be as high.”
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